


You are blind and now I see

by JungleKarmaPippa



Category: Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Genre: Gen, Pre-show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-04 02:56:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10981890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JungleKarmaPippa/pseuds/JungleKarmaPippa
Summary: Robert James wasn't always RJ.He had to go through a hard lesson first: feel.





	You are blind and now I see

“That’s not fair!” Robert James whined from the ground, where he lay flat on his back after his new master, Swoop, had kicked him down. “My spirit is not a bat! Wolves don’t become better hunters when they’re blind!”

“This isn’t about bats or wolves, Robert,” Master Swoop said calmly.

“Well, it’s still not fair,” the student said, taking off the blindfold he had been wearing and getting up. “I’m not blind and you’ve been blind for ages!”

“That is generally a rude thing to say,” Swoop chided. “And a particularly disrespectful thing to say to your master. You should know better.”

“Why? Because my father is a master?” The young man who would become the Wolf Master asked angrily. “Well, I wouldn’t know the difference between rude or not because he never let me say anything to him.”

“If you spoke to him the way you are speaking to me, he was very right to do so.”

Robert huffed, angry, but didn’t say anything.

“Robert,” Master Swoop started again, in a much softer tone. “You owe me something.” As any response, the young man rolled his eyes and huffed again. “I’m not going to ask three times nicely.”

“Fine,” Robert spat in a barely audible whisper. In a louder voice he said: “I’m sorry, Master.”

“Run around the pond,” Swoop ordered.

Robert huffed angrily again. “What for?! I said I was sorry!”

“Did you?”

“Yes!”

“Are you?”

“Am I what?!”

“Sorry.”

“Oh,” Robert kicked himself mentally. “How many times?”

“Until I tell you to stop.”

Robert made a tragedy face he was glad his master couldn’t see, yet he could have sworn he saw the older man smile as he passed him to run around the pond next to which they were training.

And he ran.

And ran.

And ran.

After he had circled the pond ten times -with Master Swoop occasionally yelling at him to go faster- he collapsed at his master’s feet.

“I’m… done…”

“Get up.”

“I… can’t…”

“What was that?”

Robert took a couple of deep breaths and stood up, although he was sure his legs couldn’t carry his weight at the moment.

“Is there anything you want to say to me?” Swoop asked.

“I’m sorry, master,” the young man answered humbly.

“For what?”

“I’m sorry for what I said about you being blind. It was a cruel comment and I made it trying to hurt your feelings.”

“Your father is my friend,” Swoop added.

“And I’m sorry about what I said about dad too.” Robert said between deep breaths. “He deserved more respect too.”

“Push-ups, I think.”

“Deserves!” Robert corrected, though he knew it was probably too late. “He deserves more respect.”

“I know what push-ups sound like, Robert.”

The boy got down on the ground and started doing push ups at his master’s feet. It wasn’t long before he was sniffing and Swoop figured he was crying.

“You can stop now,” he told his student. Robert dropped to the floor, exhausted, and stayed there, sniffing. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing, master,” Robert said with a broken voice.

“It certainly sounds like something.”

“I’m fine,” the teen insisted.

“Robert.”

“Fine!” the student exploded. “It’s just– I’m sorry, master, that was disrespectful.”

“It’s alright, Robert,” Swoop said calmly. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I feel like I’m being punished for breaking away from dad,” Robert said in a tone that betrayed his sadness.

“Why do you think we would punish you for that?” Swoop asked, sitting next to where the teen was kneeling.

“Because he’s a well-respected master,” Robert whispered. “And I’m his ungrateful, arrogant, disrespectful son who deserves to be taught a lesson.”

“You deserve to be taught many lessons, Robert,” Swoop told him. “None of which have to do with your father. If you are to become a Pai Zhua master on your own accord, you still have a lot to learn.”

“And I want to learn,” Robert said. “I really do.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way.”

“Because I’m tired,” Robert admitted. “I’m tired and hungry and I–”

“And you what?”

“And I miss him,” Robert whispered.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“I miss my dad,” Robert admitted and sniffed again. “But I have to do what is right for me too, and he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“And if you had anything to tell him, what would that be?”

“That I love him, I really do, and I do want to become a Pai Zhua master but I am not a shark. I don’t like the shark technique, the shark is not my spirit. I just want to do what feels right. I want to become a Pai Zhua master but the right way,” he looked at the sunglasses covering his master’s blind eyes. “For the right reasons.”

Swoop didn’t say anything for a whole minute, letting his student have a moment to internalize what he had just admitted.

“How do you feel now?” The master asked at last.

“Better,” the student answered. “Much better.”

“Good,” Swoop said and got up. Robert followed him immediately. “I can teach you how to fight blind, Robert, but you need to find those right reasons and focus on them. You are not being punished for what happened with your father by anyone, other than yourself. Your mind and your heart need to be aligned and you need to trust the instinct you followed when you decided to part ways with him.” Robert nodded, forgetting his master couldn’t see him. “Do you want to learn the Swoop technique?”

“I do, master. That and anything else you can teach me.”

“Very well,” Swoop said, pulling his war fan from the pocket where he kept it. “I have more than one lesson for you, and I am sure you have many lessons for me too.” RJ nodded again. “But not today. You are exhausted and you need to have a decent meal. So that is my assignment for you today: eat and sleep, properly. Recover,” he touched the boy’s third eye, “focus,” he touched Robert’s chest, over his heart. “Feel.”

“Yes, master,” Robert whispered, remembering his master couldn’t see him nodding.

“We will continue tomorrow.”

“Yes, master.”

“You can go now.”

“Thank you, master.”

On his way back to the academy’s living quarters, Robert thought about his father and the horrible fight they had had that made him leave the home they shared and move permanently to the Pai Zhua academy. He sniffed, trying to not get drowned by the feeling of sadness he had when he thought about his father.

He got to the living quarters and washed his hands and face, then walked to the dinning hall, thinking eating was going to be hard, because he had a knot in his stomach. But as soon as he entered the hall and smelled the soup they were serving for dinner, he realized he was very, very hungry. He ate two bowls of soup, enjoying the flavor of the rice and fish soup and the warm feeling of being satisfied that came with it.

He left the dinning hall and stood in the yard, which was completely void of any other human presence. He looked up at the sky and smiled at the full moon. It was a cold autumn night and he felt the cold on his skin and smiled at it too.

He closed his eyes and thought about his father. He felt a lump in his throat and he tried to swallow it away.

Master Swoop’s voice came back to him: “Feel.”

He knelt and let the tears flow freely from his eyes, letting the sadness and loneliness wash over him. He cried until he had no more tears and he opened his eyes and dried his cheeks. He was adjusting his uniform when he heard a voice behind him:

“I see Swoop was able to get through to you.” It was Master Mao, the headmaster.

“I guess so, yes,” Robert answered with a relieved smile and then took a sharp turn towards Master Mao and bowed deeply. “Master.”

“It’s alright, Robert,” Mao said with a smirk. “Do you feel better?”

“I do, master, thank you.”

“I think a good night of sleep is in order,” Mao said, pointing at the building where Robert’s room was. “You have a new roommate, I trust you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, master,” Robert said, bowed again and made his way back to his room.

He opened the door and found a blond boy, about his same age, lying down on the other bed, reading a book.

“Hey,” Robert said.

“Hey,” the other teen said, looking up from the book. “Man! What happened to you?”

“I had a very hard assignment,” Robert said. He sat on his bed and took off his training shirt. “I’m Robert,” he said without offering his hand. “Robbie or Rob is fine. Don’t ever call me Bobby.”

“Alright,” the other boy said. “I’m Dominic, you can call me Dom, and that’s the only rule I have about that.”

“Nice to meet you,” Robert said, grabbing a t-shirt to sleep in and putting it on.

Dom went back to his book and he got up to take change into his sleeping slacks.

“Do you have a middle name?” Dom asked as Robert was putting on his slacks.

“James.”

“Robert James,” Dom recited. “Sounds like a character from a book. A spy, maybe, or a knight. It doesn’t fit you.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Robert said, getting in his own bed.

“Now RJ,” Dom suggested. “That suits you. Can I call you RJ?”

“Yeah,” Robert said with a smile. “I like that.”

“Good night, RJ,” Dom said and went back to his book.

Robert got under his covers and smiled. “Good night, Dom.” He whispered.

His last though before he fell asleep was that he really liked the idea of being called RJ.

And that Master Swoop was by far his favorite master, ever.


End file.
